Manhattan

Date1945-1960

Artist/Maker Karol Kozlowski (1885-1969)

OriginAmerica, New York, New York City, Brooklyn

MediumLead pencil on cotton window shade

DimensionsUnframed: 42 1/2 x 112 1/2in. (108 x 285.8cm) and Framed: 46 5/8 x 117 3/8 x 1 1/4in.

Credit LineGift of Martha Lamarque Sarno in honor of her father, Abril Lamarque

Object number1991.202.1

DescriptionLead pencil drawing on a cotton window shade. The drawing is panoramic view of Manhattan in New York City. The work gives the viewer a good idea of how the artist laid out his composition by carefully adjusting and moving elements to achieve balance. This is especially noticeable in the middle ground where several of the boats were erased and repositioned.
Label TextThis is one of three large panoramic views by Kozlowski, two of which remain in their penci-sketched and probably unfinished form. As one of the latter, Manhattan gives the viewer a good idea of how the artist usually laid out his composition by carefully adjusting and moving elements to achieve balance. This is especially noticeable in the middle ground where several of the boats were erased and repositioned.
Manhattan is an ambitious work because of its size and because of the small details that abound throughout, particularly in the renderings of the buildings. It probably required many hours to complete, and one wonders how Kozlowski was able to record in a fairly accurate manner so many aspects of the city skyline. A close study of the smudges running horizontally just inside the upper and lower edges of the picture suggests that it was worked on flat, probably on a large table. Additionally, a large postcard view of Manhattan was discovered among Kozlowski's belongings after his death. Although this source bears no direct resemblance to the artist's drawing, some of the buildings and other architectural details could easily have served the artist as models. In fact, Kozlowski may have owned several postcard or other printed views of Manhattan, ultimately picking and choosing from each of those aspects that suited the panorama.
It should be noted that many of Kozlowski's paintings reveal pencil drawings beneath the paint layers, suggesting that most of his pictures began as detailed pencil sketches like Manhattan.
MarkingsNone found